


House of Cards

by Shadowmatic



Series: Like Blood on Snow [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: 3rd person pov, Death, F/F, Famine - Freeform, Fate, Halifax, Multi, New York City, Nina Osbeck (mentioned), Pestilence, Super Villains, Superheroes, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse-freeform, War, vigilantes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:56:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowmatic/pseuds/Shadowmatic
Summary: Hope has at least some faith in her little family.





	House of Cards

Hope was trying her best. She was following the fate lines in her head, trying to keep them all straight and directing her friends, her lovers, into stopping the whole thing from getting everybody killed. It was hard because they were always changing, branching and expanding each and every time somebody made a decision, no matter how small, not to mention she couldn’t actually see the fate lines of her partners. 

“Hey” Wesley quietly broke her concentration, dropping a careful kiss onto Hope’s forehead. “You need to take a break.”

“I.” Hope shook her head. “I can’t.” Her voice broke. “I need. I need to stop this.” 

“We do.” Wesley corrected. “You aren’t alone in this anymore.” 

“That doesn’t mean I can just stop.” 

“Yes you can. The world’s not going to end just because you took a quick nap.” 

“It might.” 

“I know it’s harder to keep everything in your head when you haven’t slept and you’ve been up here for seventeen hours Hope.” Wesley hit save on Hope’s spreadsheet and waited for it to complete, before nudging Hope’s desk chair backwards, crouching in front of her and taking her hands. “You need a break.” 

“Alright.” Hope dropped her head forward, her forehead bumping against Wesley’s. 

“C’mon love.” Wesley tugged Hope to her feet. “We’ll hold the fort.” They descended the stairs, crossing the floor of the Brooklyn warehouse they occupied, and climbed back up a ladder to the loft where their bed was. 

Hope undressed quickly and crawled under the covers in only her underwear. Wesley shucked their own clothes and crawled in after her, curling around her as though to protect her from the world with their body. 

When Hope woke up, the rest of them were there too, also asleep. Except Lilah, who was probably on watch and Nina. Fuck. Nina. Hope prayed to a deity that she no longer believed in that Nina would forgive them when they got back, if they got back, and that she would be safe. 

What they were doing wasn’t safe, not for any of them, and especially not for someone who wasn’t already involved in the whole mess. They had made the decision not to drag Nina into their fight, and Hope hoped it was the right one. 

The problem with being able to see everyone’s fates except your own was that you could not control what you saw, and Hope couldn’t see Nina’s line because they knew each other so well, something that was both a blessing and a curse. Hope didn’t want any of her partners to get themselves killed, but Nina wasn’t even part of it, so it made the whole idea even worse. 

Hope pulled herself into a sitting position and leaned up against the wall. Wesley ended up across her legs, one of their hands tangled into Fiona’s hair. Phoebe was on her other side, still in her clothes, her hijab neglected, pulled half off her head. 

Hope sat there, and tried to remember if this was what it was like to have a family. It had been so long that she wasn’t quite sure. What she did know was that if one of them died, they would collapse in on themselves like a house of cards. 

“Hope.” Lilah interrupted Hope’s thoughts as she appeared in the doorway. “We need to suit up, there are reports of fighting over Manhattan.” 

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” There were several ways it could have played out, but Gordon had caused the fight, whether he meant to or not, by casting Margo out of the Garden, out of their headquarters. And now they had to get out there. 

“Wha?” Fiona rolled over, awoken by their voices. “What’s goin’ on?” 

“Fight. Got to get moving.” Hope nudged Wesley with her knee. “C’mon. Up and at ‘em.” Wesley grumbled something unintelligible, and Lilah nodded once before disappearing back down the ladder. 

Phoebe woke on her own without any of the prodding and poking that the other two needed. 

“If this was Morgan’s fault, I swear I am going to kick their ass.” She grumbled, pulling her hijab back into place. 

“Nope, it’s Gordon’s.” Hope said, and Phoebe cursed, before heading down the ladder herself. Hope wondered absently which route Margo would take as she gently pushed the other two out of bed and pulled on an undersuit. Would she come to them, go to Morgan, or to Lillian, or go rouge on her own? Any way it spun, different things would come. And Hope knew that not all of them were good. 


End file.
